Lubricating compound



Patented Nov. 14, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1,935,588 LUBRICATING COMPOUND Samuel Cabot, Jamaica Plain, Mass, assignor to Polygon Products Company, Boston, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts No Drawing. Application May 31, 1932 Serial No. 614,645

11 Claims.

, possible the process of the wearing in of the new moving parts, but will establish surface condi-' tions maintainable by ordinary lubrication of these parts after use.

The difliculty is to get highly efficient lubrication intoremote or tightly fitting parts. Furthermore, the problems being various require in any commercial solution a product which will function under the various conditions and give the results desired. 7

The object of my invention is'to produce a new material for this type of penetrating lubrication. A penetrating lubricant must have as low a degree of viscosity as practicable in order to penetrate, but at the same time must contain as great a proportion of the best possible lubricant as can be compounded in it. v

According to my invention the best composition for penetrating lubrication should consist of a high grade lubricant which has been further improved by addition of a comparatively small percentage of a material colloidally dispersable in it, and the viscosity lowered by addition of predetermined quantities of a material of low viscosity, preferably of a volatile character, in which the lubricant is soluble and the colloid colloidally di'spersable.

According to my concept the most suitable colloid to be used in conjunction with certain lubricants in this compositionis a substance which is an isomer or polymer of the lubricant. A composition in which the colloid is anisomer or polymer of the lubricant shows less increase of viscosity (due to internal friction) and more slip than when other colloids are-used.

I There are definite limits within which this applies. It applies substantially only to-such lubricants as those made from paraffin, naphthene and olefin hydrocarbons or from semi-drying or hydroxy animal or vegetable oils or greases.

For instance, a mixture of olefin hydrocarbons whose average empirical formulais CzoI-Iqa may be polymerized by lmown means to products whose average empirical formula is C4oHa0, CsoHmo, etc., and which are colloidally dispersable in the original hydrocarbon. It is a general characteristic for an isomer to be more readily dispersable in its isomer than a non-isomer. Fur- B0 thermore, polymers are more readily dispersable 'when they are derived from the same or original starting material. In other words, a polymer usually has greater dispersability in the monomer from which it is derived.

Materials colloidally dispersable in their isomers or polymers are called isocolloids.

In carrying out the present invention, a material having good lubricating properties has added thereto a relatively small proportion of a polymer thereof, the same being isocolloidally dispersable in the original lubricating material. The preferred lubricating starting material is petroleum oil from which the lighter components such as gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, polar oil, and gas oil have been removed by distillation. Petroleum lubricating oils are generally identified by the character of the base from which they are produced, and are known as paraflin base, naphthene base, or olefin base oils. Lubricating oil 0 mixtures of this character may be improved in accordance with the present invention by isocolloidally dispersing therein a small proportion of polymers thereof. There is preferably added to the so treated oil an anti-oxidant, and the resulting product is then thinned out to a low viscosity with an appropriate thinning agent. In some cases a polar and/or amphoteric compound may be added. Compounds of 1 an amphoteric characterhave acid and basic radicals and function as a buffer in the lubricant. A polar compound which is not amphoteric in itself may become amphoteric on coming in contact with the surface lubricated, and the formed amphoteric compounds will assert a buffering action during the course of lubrication, which is of course eminently desirable. The polar compound may also react with constituents present in the-lubricating oil, for example alkali, to form an amphoteric compound asserting a bufiering action. The presence of fatty acids or equivalent compounds is also desirable, since they form in situ metallic soaps which lower the surface tension of the final lubricant.

Although the present invention is particularly satisfactory for treatment of petroleum oils of the characterset forth, it may be used in connection with other organic lubricants, and particularly the semi-drying oils and the hydroxy or vegetable oils or greases. For ex:

ample, castor oil, whale oil, spermoil, and the like, yield satisfactory final lubricants when there is added thereto a small proportion of a polymerization product thereof.

It may be'stated that if a mixture of petroleum oils or other oils are used, then the polymerized product which is added in a. small proportion is a polymerized mixture of the-original starting able polar substance may be used, and as examples, the following are set forth: fatty acids,

- such as oleic acid; alcohols, such as cholesterol;

7 thereof.

-ly dispersable. Further,'

esters, such as olein and the like, or mixtures Animal grease and sheep grease, the latter being known as degras, are mixtures of fatty esters, fatty acids, and fatty alcohols. Degras or sheep or wool grease, is a very satisfactory polar compound, and in addition has a high lubricating value. Oleic acid may be used as a polar compound, but its lubricating value is relatively low. Castor oiland whale oil are examples of polar compounds which are good lubricants. The only limits to the use of polar compounds of the above character is good practice. These compounds which are not hydrocarbons are' more chemically active than hydrocarbons and are, therefore, not so good for certain types of lubrication, and obviously the more that is used, the less hydrocarbon lubricant can be used. Where hydrocarbon lubricants are used. the polar compounds which are added should, in the preferred form of the invention, be present in a quantity less than the hydrocarbon lubricant. When using a petroleum base as the lubri-. cant-and adding a polymer thereto, about 7% of a polar material such as degras may be added,-

based on the weight of the hydrocarbon lubricant.

.- Castoroil,pclymerinedbyheatingmaybcisocoiloidallydispersedincastoroihandsimilarly' cotton seed oil u -...i byheatingmsybe in-cotton seed oil, the w vcompoimd being present in the lubricant a relatively small proportion. As stated, lubrlcantsofthischaractermnybemade inaccordance withthepresent inventionlnstead of lubricants derived from hydrocarbons having a poraflin, olefin, or naphthene base. Aromatic 'bydrocarbonaty'pifledbythecooltarserleatbose having 'anthracene and naphthalene oils present, or phenols and bases derived from the coal tar seriesare not satisfactory for treatment insccordmce with the present invention, since such .aromaidc'compmmdshitheiroriginalstateare poor lubricants and when theyare polymerized or are form resins and pitches which are largely super-cooled liquids and not colloidal such super-cooled resinous and pitch like are detrimental to lubrication, and additionally contain large quantities of crystalline materials which are incapable of separation; and therefore render the entire mas solid or pasty at ldi rtemperatures. In other words, the aromatic liydro-' carbons typifled by-the coal tar series are known to yield lubricating agents of a very inferior quality, being more or less'lacking in adhesive properties, which of course is essential in a good lubricating agent. It is, therefore, clear that the aromatic hydrocarbons of the coal tar series 8v cannot be used for the original lubricating base, and cannot be satisfactorily polymerized to form a body which is suitable for isocolloidal dispersion in the original lubricating base. However, it is desired to point out that the petroleum bases having hydro-aromatics present, and particularly the naphthenes which are usually present in Caucasian oils and in Louisiana oils, may be treated in accordance with the present invention.

It is essential that my product shall have as a low viscosity as produced in order to allow it to penetrate eilectively While of course the viscosity of the final lubricant may vary somewhat, in general the viscosity should not, in the preferred form of the invention, be greater than 8 Eln'gler at F., and preferably much lower.

'While the following examples are illustrative of the invention, the latter obviously is not limited thereto.

100. Example I 1 Parts by weight Polymerized olefln or naphthene hydrocarbons 3 Oleflnic'or naphthenic lubricating oil 30 Oleic a d 2 Aniline I 1 Mineral naphtha 64 Emmple II I Parts by weight Polymerized castor oil 3 Castor oil 30 Alpha-naphthol 1 5 Solvent naphtha cs 11 Example III Parts by V weight 7 Polymerized whale oil, 2 Whale oi 7 32 Diphenyl-guanidine V4 Turpentine 65% trample IV Parts by I weight Paramn lubricating oil 82 Polymerized paraflin oil 3 Cresylic acid .1 D sras 6 Mineral oil 58 In any of these the anti-oxidant such as aniline. cresylic acid, alpha-naphthol. diphenyl-guanidine, are interchangeable, as are the penetrants 13E solvent naphtha, mineral naphtha and turpentine. Also to someextent this is true of the :polar substances, such as oleic acid, castor oil, deans and whale oil. In the case of castor oil bottoms and which are therefore iso-colloidal as regards the petroleum selected. Where an asphaltic iso-colloid is used I preferably add 1% or 2% of aniline oil, as an anti-oxidant as it reduces its gumming tendency. I also preferably add 5% of some animal grease, preferably of polar character, as for example, degras.

Besides still bottoms, hydrocarbons may be readily polymerized by many substances, such" as anhydrous aluminum chloride, anhydrous zinc chloride, anhydrous ferric chloride, concen-. trated sulphuric acid, etc. .These polymerizing agents may be used with or without mild heating. The polymerized substance is then freed from them by washing with water. Polymerization of the semi-drying oils, such as whale oil, may be accomplished by heating, or heat while blowing with air, and by heat in the presenceof certain metals, such as magnesium. The same will apply to the hydroxy fatty oil, such as castor oil.

The amount of isocolloid compounded with the lubricating oil will depend somewhat on the viscosity desired. The more isocolloid present, the higher the viscosity tends to be. Theoretically, suficient isocolloid should be present to form an adsorbed film on the bearing surfaces. In practice, one will add only as much isocolloid as seems to add to the lubricating value or slipperiness. The examples given have proved satisfactory.

In general, it may be stated that to the lubricant base having a polymer isocolloid dispersed therein there is added sufiicient thinning agent to substantially reduce viscosity. Preferably 60 to 70% of the thinning agent, such as solvent naphtha, mineraltnaphtha, turpentine, or other volatile solvent of low viscosity is added. However, it is of course obvious that this may be varied and still come within the spirit of the present invention.

If desired, the lubricants herein set forth may have their viscosity reduced by the addition of an oil of low viscosity. For example, there may be added to the lubricant loom oil which is a hydrocarbon, usually of petroleum origin, of fairly high boiling point, but low viscosity, Loom oil may be added when it is desired to add a large quantity of colloid in proportion to the lubricant, as a larger quantity of colloid may be added because of the low viscosity of the loom oil as compared to the more generally used lubricants. Loom oil, however, has the disadvantage that it is very much inferior in lubricating quality compared to the more viscous hydrocarbons.

As stated, only a small proportion of the polymerized material isocolloidal with the original material is added thereto. In general, it

may be stated that satisfactory results 'are obtained by adding up to 5% or more of the polymerized material. However, the percentage may obviously be considerably varied according to the ingredients and purpose and still be within the spirit of the present invention.

The amount of polar material added will ob-- viously vary in accordance with the physical and chemical characteristics of the original lubricant. However, it may be stated, as a general proposition, that about-1 to 7% of the polar material is added to the hydrocarbon oils. Here agai' 1 it is obvious that these limits may be considerably varied and come within the spirit of the present ited to the particular polar percentage range set forth.

. The present application is a continuation-inpart of application Serial No. 460,545, filed June 11, 1930. 1

What I therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

l. A substantially homogeneous lubrication product of penetrative character and relatively low viscosity consisting of a lubricating oil comprising largely hydrocarbons of the class including the paraflin, olefin and naphthene series and containing at least fourteen carbon atoms and polymers of such oils colloidally dispersed in them, and a volatile solvent in an amount sufficient to reduce the viscosity of the combined oil and polymers to below that of the oil in which the isocolloids are dispersed.

2. A substantially homogeneous lubrication product of penetrative character and relatively low viscosity consisting of a lubricating oil comprising largely hydrocarbons of the class including the paraffin, olefin and naphthene series and being a mixture of hydrocarbons of generally high molecular weight and polymers of such oils colloidally dispersed in them, and a volatile solvent in an amount sufficient to reduce the viscosity of the combined oil and polymers to below that of the oil in which the lSOOOlluidS are dispersed.

3. A substantially homogeneous lubrication product of penetrative character andrelatively low viscosity comprising a hydrocarbon lubricating oil substantially devoid of coal tar compounds and in its original state of high lubricating value having dispersed therethrough a relatively small proportion of an isocolloidal polymer thereof together with a thinning agent for the mixture to reduce the viscosity thereof below that of the original lubricant.

4. A substantially homogeneous lubrication product of penetrative character and relatively low viscosity comprising a hydrocarbon lubricating oil substantially devoid of coal tar compounds and in its original state of high lubricating value having dispersed therethrough a relatively small proportion of an isocolloidal polymer thereof, an anti-oxidant, and a solvent for themixture to reduce the viscosity thereof below that of the original lubricant.

6. A substantially homogeneous lubrication product of penetrative character and relatively low viscosity comprising a hydrocarbon lubricating oil substantially devoid of coal tar compounds and in its original state of high lubricating value having dispersed therethrough .a relatively small proportion of an isocolloidal polymer thereof, an anti-oxidant, a polar compound acting to modify the acid or alkalinity of the lubricant, anda solvent for the mixture to reduce the viscosity thereof below that of the original lubricant.

7. A substantially homogeneous lubrication product of penetrative character and relatively low viscosity comprising a semi-drying lubricating oil in its original state of high lubricating value having dispersed therethrough a relatively small proportion of an isocolloidal polymer there- 0! and a solvent for the mixture to reduce the viscosity thereof below that of the original lubricant.

8. A substantially homogeneous lubrication product of penetrative character and relatively low viscosity comprising a lubricating oil having:

an asphaltic base and in its original state of high lubricating value having dispersed therethrough a relatively small proportion of a polymer thereof consisting of polymerized asphaltic still bottom residue and a solvent for the mixture to reduce the viscosity thereof below that of the original lubricant.

9. A substantially homogeneous lubrication product of penetrative character and relatively low viscosity comprising a lubricating oil of high lubricating value having dispersed therethrough up to 10% of an isocolloidal polymer thereof and 11. A substantially homogeneous lubrication A product of penetrative character and relatively low viscosity comprising a lubricating oil of high lubricating value having dispersed therethrough a relatively small proportion of an isocolloid consisting of an isomer or polymer or said lubrieating oil and a volatile solvent for the mixture to reduce the viscosity thereof below that of the original lubricant.

SAMUEL CABOT.

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